Who doesn’t love a good winged liner? And to achieve that look, you need a great eyeliner to go with it. I’ve been using the Kat Von D Beauty, now KVD Vegan Beauty Tattoo Liner for about 6 years. But in the recent years, I’ve been curious to try other brands and their new releases of eyeliners and make product comparisons so I can find the best one out there! One eyeliner in particular that I tried and want to make a direct comparison with the Allure Best of Beauty Winner KVD Vegan Beauty Tattoo Liner is the Cult Favorite NYX Epic Ink Liner. In the past year, I’ve been reading a lot about how other beauty lovers find that the NYX Epic Ink Liner is a total dupe of the KVD Beauty Tattoo Liner. For less than half the price too! I had try it for myself since it would definitely save some money and they also have a vegan formula and are cruelty-free like KVD Beauty.
Here’s my full review and comparison of the 2 eyeliners so you can decide for yourself which to purchase and have as a part of your makeup collection and everyday go-to eyeliner!
Price
KVD Vegan Beauty Tattoo Liner
Standard Size – $21 USD / $27.50 CAD
Mini Size – $12 USD / $16 USD
NYX Epic Ink Liner
$9 USD / $11 – 13.50 CAD
My Take
Well this one’s easy! Who wants to pay more for any product? The NYX Epic Ink Liner is a much better deal and easily affordable. The price of the KVD Beauty Tattoo Liner is more than double the price. It actually used to be $25 CAD until it went up in price in 2019. Not sure if it had to do with the re-brand from Kat Von D Beauty to KVD Vegan Beauty, but when looking at quality, it’s not worth the price. That is also why I started shopping around for other eyeliners to use.
Size
KVD Vegan Beauty Tattoo Liner
Standard Size – 0.55ml
Mini Size – 0.2 ml
NYX Epic Ink Liner
1 ml
My Take
Looking at the size of the KVD Vegan Beauty Tattoo liner and the NYX Epic Inc Liner, the NYX Epic Ink Liner is the clear winner. You get more bang for your buck with almost double the size at less than half the price. The Tattoo Liner lasts me about 4-5 months depending on how often I use it. I haven’t finished my first purchase of the NYX Epic Ink Liner yet, but I assume it’ll last almost twice as long.
But also keep in mind that you should be technically replacing your liquid eyeliners about every 3 months or so due to bacteria buildup. I think there can be a little more time with these liquid eyeliners since they are like pens and you don’t have to put it back into a tube in order to use it. If you are on top of replacing your liquid eyeliners every 3 months, then purchasing a more expensive eyeliner can really add up.
Color/Pigment
KVD Vegan Beauty Tattoo Liner
Trooper is a satin black and claims to have an opaque pigment.
The Tattoo Liner also comes in Mad Max Brown, but for the purpose of this beauty review, I will just be reviewing Trooper.
NYX Epic Ink Liner
This eyeliner just comes in black and claims to be intensely pigmented. It also has a bit of a shinier finish.
My Take
Comparing the 2 eyeliners, the NYX Epic Ink Liner is definitely much more pigmented and has an intense black color. Over the past few years, I’ve noticed that the KVD Vegan Beauty Tattoo Liner isn’t as black as I’d like it to be when I apply it. It’s more of a softer black. I do prefer the intense pigment more so the NYX Epic Ink Liner wins in this category for me.
Brush Tip
KVD Vegan Beauty Tattoo Liner
The Tattoo Liner has a fine point brush tip.
NYX Epic Ink Liner
The Epic Ink Liner has a slender and supple felt brush tip as per the NYX website description, but it’s more of a brush tip rather than felt.
My Take
The tips of both eyeliners are almost identical. The Tattoo Liner seems to be slightly thinner only when you really look at it, but even then I would say they’re very similar.
Precision
KVD Vegan Beauty Tattoo Liner
The Tattoo Liner draws ultra-precise lines that are “needle sharp” like they are for tattoos.
NYX Epic Ink Liner
The Epic Ink Liner is super sharp eyeliner where every stroke is unbelievably fluid and provides a controlled defined finish that are precise.
My Take
With the way the ink distributes, the NYX liquid liner flows a lot better than the KVD liner. So when you have a fresh eyeliner there might be a little more ink in the beginning and you’ll want to use a slightly lighter hand if you want more precision and thinner lines. The KVD liner seems to distribute ink the same throughout its life and allows for pretty precise lines with its brush tip until it’s closer to the end of its use.
However, I do find that the Tattoo Liner sometimes gets stuck and doesn’t dispense ink as I’m drawing my eyeliner which is really frustrating. I also tend to have to draw over my lines a couple times to have a darker and more even distribution of ink. It doesn’t happen too often at the beginning of a fresh eyeliner, but it does happen occasionally and even more so towards the middle and end of its life.
Wear Time
KVD Vegan Beauty Tattoo Liner
The KVD Tattoo Liner is waterproof, long-wearing, smudge resistant, and made to last all day.
NYX Epic Ink Liner
The NYX Epic Ink Liner is waterproof and smudge proof.
My Take
Now this feature of an eyeliner is extremely important to me. I’ve mentioned this in many of my other blog posts that I have oilier eyelids and the only way my eyeliner can actually last is when I use an eyeshadow primer along with a “waterproof” eyeliner which makes for a stronger staying power. And I say waterproof in quotations because even though different brands of eyeliners claim they are waterproof, they actually aren’t.
With the KVD Vegan Beauty Tattoo Liner, I wear it for all types of occasions – even hiking and other outdoor activities. But when it’s too sunny out or when I’m constantly taking photos through the viewfinder, my eyes get really watery and as soon as that happens my eyeliner instantly starts disappearing, even with an eyeshadow primer. This eyeliner quickly comes off when in contact with water and I have to reapply it which is something I don’t want to do when a product claims to be waterproof.
With the NYX Epic Ink Liner, I haven’t had too much of an issue here and because the pigment is much darker, it seems to last longer. And if my eyeshadow smudges into my eyeliner, it is still much more prominent than the Tattoo Liner.
Where It’s Made
Both the KVD Vegan Beauty Tattoo Liner and NYX Epic Ink Liner is made in Korea.
My Take
Korean Beauty (K-Beauty) is a leader in beauty and are known for having great formulations and delivers results so I am pretty happy with where it’s made.
Ingredients
The NYX Epic Ink Liner has a longer list of ingredients than the KVD Tattoo Liner does. Highlighted are some ingredients that would be best to avoid in cosmetics but are unavoidable for the most part unless they’re “clean beauty” products.
The ingredients that do overlap between the 2 eyeliners are:
Water, acrylates copolymer/ammonium styrene, butylene glycol, phenoxyethanol, Black 2 (CI 77266)
These are the other ingredients that each of the eyeliners contain that are different form each other:
KVD Vegan Beauty Tattoo Liner
Alcohol, Beheneth-30, Acrylates/Octylacrylamide Copolymer, Methylparaben, Polyglyceryl-3 Disiloxane Dimethicone, Propylparaben, Sodium Hydroxide, Disodium EDTA
NYX Epic Ink Liner
Laureth-21, Acrylates/Dimethylaminoethyl Methacrylate Copolymer, C11-15 Pareth-7, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Sodium Laureth-12 Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Ammonium Acrxylates Copolymer, Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate, Caprylyl Glycol, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Dehydroacetate
My Take
Between the 2 eyeliners, both have some less-than-optimal ingredients. But in regards to the lesser evils, I would rather avoid parabens in the Tattoo Liner since they can disrupt hormones. Sulfates can cause irritation and are present in the Epic Ink Liner.
The Verdict
After considering all the different factors between the KVD Vegan Beauty and NYX eyeliners and having used them for a while, I personally now would choose to replace my Tattoo Liner with the Epic Ink Liner due to the price, pigment, size, and lasting power. Not to say that the Tattoo Liner is not good, it does the job when I needed it all these years but I think it’s time to have another great eyeliner in my collection to turn to as well.
Tips For Your Liquid Eyeliners
- Shake your liquid eyeliner before use to keep the formula flowing evenly.
- Gauge how much pressure you need to apply your eyeliner for a lighter or bolder look.
- Wipe the tip of the eyeliner with a damp tissue to remove eyeshadow buildup or if you want to make sure your eyeliner runs smoothly.
- Store your eyeliner tip-down so the brush stays saturated and doesn’t dry out.
- Make sure your eye liner stays all day with these makeup tips.
For more makeup recommendations, Shop My Favorites – Makeup.